Mega podcaster Joe Rogan suggested the public’s lack of sympathy over UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s assassination is because of the “dirty business” he was involved in.
Rogan, 57, was speaking with filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and producer Roger Avary on Tuesday’s episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience” when they briefly kicked off the show by discussing a photo of accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione.
“I don’t think this guy was a professional,” Rogan said in the episode recorded about a week before alleged assassin Mangione was captured at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., on Monday following a five-day manhunt.
“I think this guy, if I had to guess, was some guy who got f–ked over,” the UFC commentator said. “Apparently, that company is really bad at denying claims.”
Avary and Rogan then pointed out the staggering denial rate for health insurance claims UnitedHealthcare is accused of having with its policyholders.
“I don’t think anybody is, like, going to be crying too hard over [Thompson],” Avary said.
“Maybe his family, but that’s about it,” Rogan replied.
“It’s a dirty, dirty business. The business of insurance is f–king gross. It’s gross. Especially healthcare insurance. It’s f–king gross.”
Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Thompson as the 50-year-old CEO walked to a Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference.
He was reported missing by his prominent Maryland real estate family last month after he lost touch with them following a recent back surgery.
The brilliant 26-year-old University of Pennsylvania grad was found carrying a ghost gun, masks, a US passport, and rambling writings linking him to the ambush when he was arrested at the Pennsylvania McDonald’s following a five-day manhunt.
What we know about the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
- Brian Thompson, the CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare, was gunned down Wednesday outside a luxury Midtown hotel in a “brazen, targeted attack,” police said.
- Thompson was named CEO of UnitedHealth in April 2021. He joined the company in 2004. He was one of several senior executives at the company under investigation by the Department of Justice.
- Thompson’s wife, Paulette, said her husband had been getting threats before he was killed.
- Thompson’s shooting led to sick support online, and even spurred a tasteless lookalike competition in NYC.
- A person of interest has been nabbed by police officers inside a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa.
- The suspect has been identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, originally from Towson, Md. He’s a former Ivy League student who hated the medical community.
Follow along with The Post’s live updates on the news surrounding Brian Thompson’s murder.
He was charged with murder in New York Monday evening after Pennsylvania authorities issued charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery, and providing false identification to police earlier in the day.
Law enforcement is investigating a three-page manifesto-type document that Mangione had on him.
The alleged manifesto included raging remarks about “parasitic” health insurance companies and expressed disdain for corporate greed and power.
The Ivy League graduate allegedly also wrote that the US has the most expensive healthcare system in the world and that profits of major corporations continue to rise while “our life expectancy” does not.
The hand-written document allegedly found with Mangione included a line in which he claimed to have acted alone.
“To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone,” the document said, according to sources.
The details emerged as cops continued to piece together a possible motive for the cold-blooded killing – including whether a vendetta against the medical industry fueled Mangione after suffering from chronic back pain.
Mangione is being held in a Pennsylvania lockup while fighting extradition to New York.
